Margaret J. Mealey, 94; Led National Council of Catholic Women

Margaret J. Mealey, 94, a former longtime executive director of the National Council of Catholic Women, died Jan. 5 of respiratory failure at a retirement home in Oakland.

Mealey served as executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based organization from 1949 until her retirement in 1977. She is credited with doubling its membership during that time.

She was appointed an observer at the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s. Pope Paul VI named her to a papal commission on the laity in 1972, and she served as a member of the task force that established the national councils of Catholic women and men.

Mealey served on President Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women. She also served on advisory panels for three other presidents and was a delegate to White House conferences on children, youth, aging, food and health.

A native of San Francisco, Mealey graduated from what is now Holy Names University in Oakland. She did graduate work at UC Berkeley and worked for the National Catholic Community Service in California and the state of Washington before moving to Washington, D.C.